Area Homeowners Advise on Staying in Place Programs

In collaboration with the New America Future of Land and Housing Program, CivicSpace is in the process of conducting a series of two community design sessions to support The Chicago Community Trust in implementing their Stay in Place strategy for vulnerable Chicago homeowners. The themes of these two sessions center on home repair programs, estate planning for seniors, and displacement prevention. Recruitment has utilized networks of local organizations and has prioritized underrepresented populations who experience barriers to staying in their homes and increasing the homes’ value for future generations.

The first session was held in Englewood in February 2025. Seventeen community members, primarily individuals over the age of 50, met to discuss their most pressing needs in home repairs and estate planning. They discussed their plans for keeping homes in the family, as well as the legal roadblocks they have faced in the process of planning to pass their homes on to the next generation. This was accomplished through the use of breakout discussions and worksheets that pushed participants to consider the resources they have at their disposal and how their estate planning and repair needs rank as they consider the future of their homes. Participants provided deep insights into the strengths and challenges of older residents preparing to stay in place. These insights are invaluable in helping design the next stages of the program.

The second session will be held in Pilsen in June 2025. This session is in collaboration with The Resurrection Project and focuses on supporting owners of small apartment buildings in the area, with a particular focus on Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH). The project builds on TRP’s regular community engagement process and will help inform new programming to provide forgivable loans and other supports to eligible homeowners in the Pilsen area. The primary purpose of this session is to support landlords in repairing their buildings so that they are not forced to sell their properties to development corporations, and the secondary purpose is to help them keep their tenants in place through affordable rent. This session will have a similar structure to the Englewood session, but will explore different facets of home ownership and the interventions that would help smaller landlords maintain their buildings.